Mario

Events, Featured, Game Music

Celebrate 30 Years of Super Mario Bros. with these Musical Tributes

September 13, 2015 | Shawn Sackenheim | 4 Comments Share this

It was September 13th, 1985 when Super Mario Bros. debuted alongside Nintendo’s Famicom in Japan. From there Mario has gone on to star in seemingly innumerable sequels and spin-offs with cameo appearances all over the place. As fun and memorable as the games are to play, the music is even more special to many of us. To celebrate the 30th anniversary of Super Mario Bros. I thought I’d highlight a few new and noteworthy musical tributes to the game and the series.

First up is a whole new album from Shiryu, Super Mario Bros. The 30th, a collection of twelve tracks providing “vintage electronic reinterpretations” of some of his favorite themes. Each track is a medley of familiar tunes from a single Mario game and each has its own unique synth styling.

Slightly older is Marc Lovallo’s “Super Mario 30th Anniversary Medley” which was posted last September in anticipation for this year’s official 30th anniversary. It’s a mighty piece that fuses mainline Mario, Super Mario Land and Yoshi’s Island themes into a nearly nine minute medley. The consistency he keeps across fifteen different games is really impressive.

Want an even more comprehensive audio/visual history of Mario? Check out Super Mario Ceremony, an immense eighteen minute presentation from Japanese composer, Hapinano. This one is from 2011 and was designed to celebrate ALL of Mario’s history (not just Super Mario Bros.) but it’s so thorough and such a great remix medley that I couldn’t pass up including it. Everything from Donkey Kong to Mario’s sporting and RPG adventures are represented with choreographed gameplay footage and animations that represent the work of some forty Japanese collaborators.

You know it wouldn’t be a post from me if I didn’t somehow work in a little jazz, so here’s a track from the manouche jazz group La Orquesta Inestable. A bonus track on their album Bambalinas, the “gypsy jazz” treatment gives the Super Mario Bros. themes a fun new feel. It reminds me of similar acoustic arrangements from James Hill and the Mario & Zelda Big Band Live album and —

You know what? I could do this all day so let’s just trade favorite tracks, remixes and arrangements in the comments and celebrate the incredible legacy of Mario.
Game Music, Reviews

It’sa Me, Mario! Super Mario History 1985-2010 Soundtrack CD (Review)

December 15, 2010 | Jayson Napolitano | 3 Comments Share this

I can’t believe it’s really been 25 years since Mario Mario and Luigi Mario set out on their adventure to rescue Princess Toadstool in the Mushroom Kingdom. We’ve seen all sorts of celebration coming from Nintendo this year, including special Iwata Asks interviews (including a lengthy talk with Koji Kondo himself about the music featured in this collection), as well as a red anniversary Wii console and this Super Mario All Stars Limited Edition release on the Wii.

You saw the packaging yesterday, and already know that the box contains not only a port of the Super Mario All Stars game from the SNES with Super Mario Bros. 1, 2, 3, and “Lost Levels,” but also a commemorative book detailing the history of the series and a soundtrack CD. The soundtrack CD is what we’re here to talk about today, so find out if it’s worth checking out in our review after the jump. (more…)
Featured, Game Music

OSVchannel: Super Mario All Stars Limited Edition Unboxing Video

December 14, 2010 | Jayson Napolitano | Comments Off on OSVchannel: Super Mario All Stars Limited Edition Unboxing Video Share this

Here we are with another OSVchannel special. This is yet another item that I hadn’t planned on unboxing for you guys, but after opening it, I was so impressed with the packaging and some of the surprises within the commemorative booklet that I thought you may be interested to see inside. From the snazzy wrapping paper that Nintendo sent it out in to the packaging and bonuses that are included, it’s an all around nice collection to look upon at the very least.

For those who don’t know what this is all about, this past Sunday Nintendo released the Super Mario All Stars Limited Edition collection for the Wii to celebrate Mario’s 25th anniversary. What’s here is essentially the Super Mario All Stars game from the SNES ported over to a Wii disc with an additional DVD case housing a soundtrack CD and the aforementioned commemorative booklet. We’ll have more coverage of the album in the coming days, but in the meantime, feel free to check out the above video and pick up the game in a store near you for $29.99.

What do you think of Nintendo’s approach to the All Stars Limited Edition? At the reduced price and with the packed-in bonuses, is it worth it to you?
Game Music

E3 2010: Nintendo’s Hardcore Press Conference

June 15, 2010 | Jayson Napolitano | 2 Comments Share this

Nintendo’s press conference has come to a close, and it’s looking like 2010 and even 2011 are going to be big years for Nintendo fans. While half of the conference was dominated by the 3DS (which also had some amazing game announcements), the Wii and DS are getting a lot of love this year.

Nearly every classic Nintendo franchise was covered, from the upcoming Metroid: Other M that we’ve been excited about for months to newly announced Zelda, Kirby, Kid Icarus, Donkey Kong Country, and even Goldeneye titles. While everyone is focusing on how these games look and feel (the 3DS is absolutely stunning), we were paying attention to how they sounded, and I have to say that I liked what I heard.

Hit the jump for our impressions of Nintendo’s newly announced titles directly from the press conference. (more…)
Game Music, Reviews

New Super Mario Bros. Wii: A Warp Pipe to 1985 – 1995 (Game Review)

February 27, 2010 | Jayson Napolitano | 2 Comments Share this

This game really came out of left field at E3 2009. I distinctly remember the playful samba music coming from the speakers above the floor along with the multitude of smiles and laughs coming from the people lining the kiosks. The game was released at the end of 2009, and has sold a slew of copies, so I guess it’s obvious that Nintendo knew right from the start that it had something big on its hands.

As we’re not likely to see a soundtrack release for the game based on our interview with New Super Mario Bros. Wii Sound Director Kenta Nagata, I thought it’d be appropriate to take a look at the game and its music in a review. While there was a lot of marketing that went into the multiplayer aspects of New Super Mario Bros. Wii, it was also designed to work as a single player game, and I think fans of the Mario series will be pleased not only with the game design, but also with the fan service Nintendo provides with countless throwbacks to past Mario games including Super Mario Bros. 3, Super Mario World, and Super Mario 64.

Hit the jump to find out what we thought in our review of New Super Mario Bros. Wii. (more…)
Doujin, Game Music

When Lou Albano Passed Away, XOC Decided to Play Super Mario Bros. 3

October 16, 2009 | Audun Sorlie | 1 Comment Share this

Captain Lou Albano sadly passed away this week. He was a well known wrestler in his day, wrestling in the tag team The Sicilians in WWF (the promotion that later became WWE), and later became a manager during the 80s’ colorful WWF roster. However, what most of us know and love him for, is his role as Mario in the Super Mario Bros. Super Show! Many people decided to play the different Mario games and watch the show in tribute of the sad loss, and someone decided to release something special to lighten us up.

Jason Cox, who is more famous as XOC, is quite famous for his quirky, light hearted arrangement, using everything from guitars to rubber duckies. In 2005, he released SMW, a complete Super Mario World soundtrack arrangement album which took the game music community by storm, and has since released many releases ranging from movie game soundtracks to Kirby, but now he has returned to Mario yet again and delivering XOC Plays Super Mario Bros. 3, a complete Super Mario Bros 3 arrangement project. He’s not alone either, as he has brought on Dan Taylor, the bassist from Metroid Metal to do the bass for many of the tracks.

You can get the album at XOCMusic.com for $5 USD, which contains both high quality MP3 and FLAC encodings. So pick it up, honor the talent and memory of Lou Albano and be sure to check out our review of the album in the near future!
Game Music

A Would-Be Great Idea: Eight Bits of Jam

October 13, 2009 | Patrick Gann | 1 Comment Share this

Alright, this concept needs little to no explanation. Have a live band play the otherwise-chiptuned VGM that plays from your NES.

The dudes that put this video together are obviously showing off their humorous side, though they’re also demonstrating their talents as musicians in the process. That’s always a killer combo. At first I was worried it would just be all Super Mario Bros. But then they expanded to Double Dragon and Mega Man. Suddenly, life made sense and all was beautiful.

Much as I would like to have a band backing me up during my frantic gaming sessions, we all know the price point would be so astronomical that this advertised “service” could never happen. The next best thing is going to concerts like Video Games Live and PLAY! and watching those videos up on the screen while the band/orchestra does their thing. And oh, do they do it well.

[via bitmob]